Examples of Statements by Artist

Within my paintings, the frantic rush of digital culture is frozen. The hand, and the forgotten sensation of the physical object returns. Translated through technology unto flat icy surfaces a jumble of pop images collect, an awkward wallpaper of fuzzy cultural memories. Issues of remembrance, the flattening of high/low, and the insertion of the hand into technological space collects in my paintings. I work within the patterned landscape of popular culture, a space inhabited by dripping bio-morphic figures, flat architectural structures, and decorative motifs slipping over plastic fields of contact paper, synthetic fabrics, and dated wallpaper. My work stands in the strange space between the blinking abstraction of technology, the shallow temporality of contemporary culture, and the inherent history of painting.

My paintings are not abstract, references fade in and out, colors hint of specific decades, logos, and materials. Within computer graphic programs I create bulbous, cartoon-like shapes, borrowed from children's illustrations, fabric patterns, and 1970s television. Through careful editing, images merge as I digitally melt the forms within the computer unto photographs of prepared panels covered in patterned fabric or wallpaper. When an intriguing relationship emerges, the painting is projected unto the panel. In the process of painting the projected image, my hand, through drips, wavering lines, imperfections of the fabric ground, and frantic scrawls of oil pastes. records my presence within the computer constructed image. My work is an attempt to reverse technology, the re-entry of the hand into the cool perfection of the digital landscape.

Dave Beck, 2006:

The nation we live in has found itself in an extremely peculiar era -- a time of confusion, passive disbelief, and commercial bombardment. The location and modus of learning has changed from the dinner table and classroom to the television and shopping mall. As our culture wanders closer and closer to an intellectual median, I have discovered that it is essential that art make all attempts possible to sneak into assumptions and conceptions. Because of this belief, I find it a necessary step to include objects and images utilized in the everyday life of this culture within my work. The recognition factor (how fast and easily one can associate with my work) is an integral portion of how and why I create. Although not conventional, my reasons for creating work focus more on societal advancement and healing, rather than its analysis. As artists, we cannot alienate the society that dominates and supports our livelihood; we must create works that not only garner their attention, but also facilitate the evolutions of their societal perception and intellect.